Here's another collection of Indus architectural environments. This time we have two well lit Indus cityscapes in the political bloc (bloc refers to the more dimensional 360 degree nature of borders on Indus, or inside Indus to be more accurate) of Jašmas, and the entryway to a bar.

In locations such as these you'll find the largest concentrations of populated settlements. These places are typically safer to move about in the open, and live in, due to functioning infrastructures, lighting, utilities, water, etc. This isn't to say there aren't isolated pockets of Indus that are safe and functional but it's typically safer in the more populated areas.

These were, once again, rough illos that I used to explore my approach to the actual production art that will follow. I kinda had more fun with the city shots, that I had planned, so they ended up a lot more finished and detailed. Lots o signs, lot and lots o signs.

The little shot of the entrance to some dive bar, you may note, has a few signs about indenturement betting. This is referring to sendai that are indentured to human owners as working slaves. Often these indentured sendai participate in gambling reductions to the number of years in their indenturement contracts on the FOILs in the Polemon campaign. FOILs (the faedai componant) are huge idols to many sendai so often you'll find them betting on their favorite FOIL crews to knock of years in their indenturement contracts with human owners.

I'll be posting higher resolution crops of the city shots on the blog or tumblr later.

Thank you kindly Well... let's say we're working on some things but we're not going to say what they are quite yet There will be plenty of work dropping in the galleries though so you can expect more for sure.

All excellent examples of the "entranceway" principle (my own term). That's a means of engaging the viewer by either literally or graphically providing an unobstructed path within the image, usually near the bottom of frame, encouraging the viewer to "step in to" the picture.

I'd say "entranceway" is a really good term to describe it, I dig. That's, more or less, my intent with a lot of these enviro pieces, to make them inviting (both aesthetically and in terms of the image comp, of which you're noting) no matter how dystopian things might get. At the end of the day people must still (theoretically in the fiction) live there so I have never been a fan of the whole sterile sci-fi city that seems all the rage. Much of the fun, for me, is making settings I would like to explore in reality so, one would hope, this translates to the viewer as well.

Very cool Mike! I like how the lower image is verging into an Imperial Boy zone. IB + TKP style can only be a good thing.

This may be slightly off topic, but I hope you get a chance to check out the cyberpunk city of Hengsha in the new Deus Ex game. They really nailed a perfect atmosphere, good as any heavyweight in the genre. Check my latest journal if you need more convincing. It's up there w/ GIS in terms of definitive work.

My thanks Rob! Something tell me Imperial Boy has a lot of the same points of visual reference that influence me as well. I'm quite aware of his work but the Theos stuff has been lurking around in my head since the 90s and a lot of it's aesthetics have remained intact from then. The first illo, ever, related to this project was done sometime in the late 80s-early 90s and it was just a cluttered industrial alley of buildings... that was the genesis of Indus. If ever I could work with Imperial Boy, in the future, I'd say his style would fit right into the TKP universe.

I haven't seen much of the game yet but hear it's got the classic cyberpunk vibe pretty much down. I'll have to pick it up at some point.

My thanks Travis, I really appreciate it man! It's nice to know these come off well because the perspective isn't really perfect on any of them, they were just eyeballed roughs I belted out. The were small, not quite small thumbnail size but more, or less, all 3 on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. When I get to doing the actual productions stuff for this project the'll be a bit more accurate on that but still have the same feel.

As far as I have seen I know you have the skill, it's just as you said spending more time practicing with doing this kind of material. Riffing out fictional cities kinda evolves a shorthand in your approach. Naturally, I do use a lot of real city images to reference the vibe but none of the Theos cities exist in real life so from there it's all me riffing my TKP-ified style. I love doing this stuff so expect to see more

Good to hear from you Travis, please tell Lincoln and Yokoyama-san I said hello